Press Release

Runtime Announces Commercial Support for Thread

January 3, 2018: San Jose, CA – Runtime, an IoT platform-as-a-service and open source solution provider, today announced commercial support for Thread, the mesh networking protocol that securely connects devices in residential and commercial settings via a robust, low power IPv6 network. Runtime’s first supported implementation pairs OpenThread, the open source implementation maintained by Nest, with Apache Mynewt, the open source OS for connected, constrained devices in the Apache Software Foundation (ASF).

Apache Mynewt’s first Thread implementation is based on the Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 system- on-chip (SoC), which supports the operation of both Thread and Bluetooth Low Energy stacks. Apache Mynewt supports Bluetooth 5, Bluetooth Mesh, LoRaWAN, and Wi-FI: the coupling of Thread with Apache Mynewt further establishes the microcontroller-class (MCU) OS as preeminent in terms of both manageability and breadth of support for low power network connectivity.

“As multi-protocol chipsets become increasingly common, the requirement for advanced scheduling and a truly manageable OS in the MCU space is evident,” said James Pace, CEO of Runtime. “Apache Mynewt was designed with low power connectivity, security, and at-scale manageability, and is an ideal platform for building Thread-enabled devices and applications. The Runtime team has real-world experience securely deploying and managing the largest mesh networks in the world, having conceived and standardized IEEE 802.15.4g.”

The motivations behind OpenThread and Apache Mynewt are remarkably aligned and the free and open source code bases increase developer productivity and facilitate interoperability. The end result is quicker time-to-market and a lower cost base for companies building connected products and, most important, an improved end user experience.

“The Thread Group is pleased to see companies such as Runtime focus commercial support offerings around the Thread specification and the Thread community,” said Grant Erickson, president, Thread Group. “With Thread, product developers and end users can easily and securely connect devices into a low-power wireless network that includes direct Internet and cloud access.”

“We are elated that Runtime chose the Nordic nRF52840 multi-protocol SoC as the first platform to support in Apache Mynewt for developers building OpenThread applications,” stated Pär Håkansson of Nordic Semiconductor. “At Nordic, we believe the openness of the nRF5 series of SoCs is the natural complement to open source efforts. Apache Mynewt’s strong support for the Nordic platform makes it one of the most compelling projects to use with the Nordic’s nRF5 series connectivity SoCs.”

Apache Mynewt recently released version 1.3, which includes a complete sensor framework, stack optimizations including CoAP over LoRaWAN, Ambiq Apollo 2 for low power MCU support, and enhanced board support for the Telenor EE02 and EE04 modules. In 1Q2018, Runtime will extend commercial support of Thread to other microcontroller OSes, including Zephyr and FreeRTOS.

About Runtime

Runtime provides cloud-based management of connected devices and is a complete solutions provider for consumer, medical, commercial, and industrial IoT applications. Free, open source software is essential to all Runtime offerings. Runtime supports Apache Mynewt, an embedded OS optimized for networking and built for remote management. Apache Mynewt provides the components developers expect from a modern general purpose OS, but for constrained devices that are incapable of running either Linux or Android. Please visit Runtime’s website, follow us on Twitter @runtime_io and check us out on LinkedIn.